Contrasts

A Moveable Feast

Apse of the Karaganda Cathedral.

Recently, we have seen on some Blogs a coverage of the construction and consecration of the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Karaganda, Saint Joseph's.  What appears to be an historic altarpiece has been installed as the High altar and focal point of the Cathedral.  It is an extremely impressive ensemble visually, constructed of timber,  polychromed and gilded.
 

The two altars sit in harmonious proximity to each other
and appear almost as one unit.

Standing in front of the High altar is another altar,freestanding, which has been the subject of some discussion in the Comboxes.  A timber altar, with rather beautifully done carving, is the altar at which Mass is intended to be celebrated.  But it is not fixed: it sits on a splendid carpet at the same level as the High altar, and the whole thing could readily be moved out of the way.  But this altar was consecrated and a rather ingenious method of construction was then revealed.  Approximately two-thirds of the mensa was a slab of marble, incised with consecration crosses and set into the timber table of the altar.  This stone itself was consecrated by the Dean of the Sacred College, Cardinal Sodano during Mass on 8th September.  Beneath the mensa was placed a small house containing the sacred relics.

The large marble stone set into the mensa of the freestanding altar.

According to the old Pontifical, such an arrangement was not permitted for an altar, but the revised Ritual Books are more flexible.  The General Instructions of the Roman Missal no. 263 says: According to the Church's traditional practice and the altar's symbolism, the table of a fixed altar should be of stone and indeed of natural stone. But at the discretion of the conference of bishops some other solid, becoming, and well-crafted material may be used.  The Ceremonial of Bishops and the Code of Canon Law restate this instruction.  Thus, it is not uncommon and perfectly licit, for a consecrated altar to be made entirely of wood or metal, and sometimes, as in the case of the Karaganda Cathedral, a stone mensa is supported by a structure of timber or metal.

Detail of the High altar shewing the patina of the old paintwork.

This flexibility is surely an advantage when there is an existing High altar intact in a Church, but yet not usually the altar at which Mass is offered.  How often do we see churches with two altars sitting one in front of the other?  Usually, the two sit in uncomfortable proximity to each other, vying for attention.  But not at Karaganda.  Congratulations to those who devised the ingenious solution.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

A relic house about to be placed beneath the freestanding altar.

Please note that the images are the copyright of the Diocese of Karaganda.

Saint Camillus de Lellis

A kindly priest customer of the Studio sent us this rare portrait of Saint Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614), co-Patron Saint of Nurses.  Saint Camillus spent most of his life caring for the sick. Read more about him here.

Saint Camillus was ordained a priest in 1584 by the last Catholic English bishop, Lord Thomas Goldwell. 

The adjacent image of Saint Camillus is said to be only contemporaneous portrait of him and shews him during the Offertory of the Mass.  The Saint is wearing a style of chasuble common in the sixteenth century and often associated with Saint Philip Neri. Saint Philip was a spiritual mentor of Saint Camillus.

The chasuble is made from an ivory-coloured silk brocade interwoven with gold, but perhaps its most interest feature is its orphrey ornamentation.  The orphrey appears to be formed from a woven braid in colours of black and gold on an off-white base.  Most interesting is the design of this braid, being a series of interlinked geometric motifs: quite unlike the style of ornament found on other chasubles of this period and in the two centuries following.

Puginesque vestments

The Saint Bede Studio recently completed sets of vestments for a priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney.  The vestments were made in the more stylised cut of the 16th century, which is sometimes referred to as Gothic Revival.

Each of these vestments was made from an English ecclesiastical brocade and ornamented with a different orphrey braid based on the work of AWN Pugin.  The three vestments - in crimson red, ivory and green are shewn in the adjacent photographs.

An apparelled amice is employed with each of these vestments.



Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Simple Cope

Above is pictured a cope recently produced by the Studio.  It is a simple vestment, made from a cotton jacquard and ornamented with an English ecclesiastical brocade in colours of ivory and straw.  The cope is unlined.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Belloc

Hilaire Belloc with GB Shaw (left) and GK Chesterton.

Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, 

There’s always laughter and good red wine.

At least, I’ve always found it so; 

Benedicamus Domino.

Hilaire Belloc (1870 - 1953).

Roman vestments of the 16th century

This handsome vestment, in the Saint Philip Neri style, was made by the Studio for a returning customer, a priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin.

The chasuble is made from an ivory English ecclesiastical brocade, ornamented in the Roman manner with a damask of silk and cotton in burgundy and old gold, and outlined with a galloon.  The chasuble is lined in crimson red.

Click on the image for an enlarged view.

Enquiries: stbede62@gmail.com

Newsletter

Today, the September Newsletter was sent to all customers and past enquirers of the Studio.  If you are a reader of this Blog and would like to receive a copy of the Newsletter, please contact us.

The amice apparel : 1

Not infrequently, we receive questions about vestments which appear on this blog which have an unusual collar-like attachment.  This attachment is called an APPAREL.  Sometimes when shopping at the supermarket, one finds a sign in one of the aisles saying "Apparel": these are not, however, for liturgical use.  The liturgical apparel is not, in fact, attached to the chasuble, but to the amice and has been a form of decoration used with vestments for a millenium.  

The history of the amice apparel will be the subject of a further post. This post, however, is an illustrated guide to the archane mystery of wearing an amice apparel.

Our first illustration (above) shews the apparel sitting on top of the amice.  Notice that the apparel is set back approximately one-and-half inches or 4-5 cm from the upper edge of the amice.  This allows the amice to be tucked into the collar of the albe or cassock once the chasuble has been put on, creating a tidier appearance (see the fourth illustration).  Our first illustration shews the position where pins may be used to attach the apparel to the amice.  Note that pins are used on only ONE EDGE of the apparel, not to both edges.  Also note that the ends of the apparel are NOT pinned down.

Our second illustration (above) shews the apparelled amice sitting on the head after the albe has been put on.  In the usual method of wearing an amice, the amice is tucked into the collar before the albe is put on.  But it remains over the head when an apparel is used.  The face is not a portrait.

Our third illustration (above) shews the apparelled amice still sitting on the head after the stole and chasuble have been put on.

Our fourth illustration (above) shews the apparel in its final resting place.  Having been pulled back down from the head, the unencumbered edge of the amice is tucked into the alb or cassock collar.  This draws the apparel together and gives a tidier appearance at the neckline.  Thus the apparel sits free of both the chasuble and amice, as shewn above. Sometimes, assistance will be needed to tuck the back of the amice into the chasuble.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.

Altar of Saint Gregory the Great

Above the altar of Pope Saint Gregory the Great in Saint Peter's Basilica is a painting by Andrea Sacchi of the well-known miracle which occurred as Saint Gregory offered Mass.  Sacchi is said to have painted this in 1625.  The image below reproduces the entire painting, but the image above is a cropped version, which shews more clearly the vestments Saint Gregory is depicted as wearing.

We can deduce from this painting that in the first quarter of the 17th century, vestments were still being used in Rome which conformed to the directions set down more than a century earlier by Saint Charles Borromeo.  The chasuble on Saint Gregory is shewn to reach almost to the elbow, but is also folded back, indicating that it was wider still.  We also note that the chasuble is ornamented in what had become, even by then, the established Roman manner: a TAU in the front.  The stole, also, is quite long, although broad in the style of this period.  But a small amount of lace ornaments the albe of Saint Gregory in this painting.

Click on the images for an enlarged view.